Two women hunting the same killer. One seeks justice. One seeks fame. Both have something to hide.
In a remote Scottish town where everyone knows everyone, the disappearance of local girl Lily Howard should be impossible to hide. But as Detective Ruth Lindsey discovers, some secrets run deeper than blood.
When internet sensation Mia Chaplin arrives to investigate, her viral YouTube videos about the case spark a media frenzy. The town divides: some worship Mia as a crusader for justice, others see her as a dangerous provocateur.
For Ruth, she’s a threat – not just to the investigation, but to the fragile peace of a community already fracturing under pressure.
As Mia’s revelations start destroying lives, Ruth realises she’s dealing with something far more sinister than a fame-hungry influencer. Because Mia knows things about Lily she shouldn’t.
And Ruth is beginning to suspect that the real predator isn’t hiding in the shadowy hills of Galloway, but broadcasting to millions from plain sight…
Charlotte Langley works as a journalist and a personal finance reporter at the Telegraph and is a fresh, breakout voice in gripping psychological police dramas.
My thoughts: This was a really good crime read, dealing with the true crime, social media investigator trend and the harm an inexperienced, non-professional detective can cause.
When Lily Howard goes missing, the police and mountain rescue are soon looking for her, but as the time goes by and she doesn’t turn up, the social media investigators start to descend, like locusts.
Mia Chaplin is one of them, but her previous case has done more harm than good, and it looks like this might be the same. As she pokes into Lily’s life, cosying up to her family, publishing unsubstantiated rumours and setting the online and irl ghouls on innocent people.
DI Ruth Lindsey is a professional, she and her team are ruling out suspects the correct way. Despite repeated warnings Mia won’t listen and continues to harass local residents and connect dots that just aren’t there.
As it becomes clear that Lily is no longer alive, Ruth and Mia are repeatedly at odds. And their confrontations are distracting Ruth from finding the perpetrator.
A really interesting, clever book with some shocking twists as a community is torn apart by accusations and mob rule.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
A city on edge. A killer in plain sight. A detective running out of time.
On a crowded London bus, a young woman is slashed in broad daylight. The attacker vanishes before anyone realizes what’s happened. Detective Jack MacIntosh knows this isn’t an isolated attack.
The media call him the ‘Tube Slasher’ — a phantom who strikes on packed trains and crowded platforms, then disappears without a trace. No witnesses. No pattern. No evidence. Victims keep coming. CCTV offers only fleeting glimpses. And every attack feels random — until Jack realises it isn’t. So far, the wounds have been shallow. Controlled. Almost deliberate. But now the killer has changed his pattern. He’s left the Underground. And that can only mean one thing. Escalation.
With pressure mounting and time running out, Jack is chasing a man no one can see — and a motive he can’t yet understand. Because Jack knows what’s coming next. The next attack won’t be a warning. It will be murder.
Michelle Kidd is a crime fiction author best known for the DI Jack MacIntosh and DI Nicki Hardcastle series. Michelle qualified as a legal executive in the early 1990s, spending ten years practising civil and criminal litigation. But the dream to write was never far from her mind and in 2008 she began writing the first book in what would later become the DI Jack MacIntosh series. Michelle now works full time for the NHS and lives in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. She enjoys reading, wine and cats — not necessarily in that order.
My thoughts: Jack MacIntosh starts this book delivering his new niece on the floor of his sister-in-law’s cafe. But then he barely has time to breathe as the Underground Slasher, a masked man who cuts his victims with a knife, shallow but painful wounds, and waves to the CCTV, strikes again, but this time on a bus. Has he changed his MO? Will he now start killing people?
Jack and his team are up against it, a suspect who changes his appearance, brushing past his victims in the crush of the Tube, nothing to go on in their vague descriptions. No evidence left behind. Just strange smiley face calling cards.
Then he becomes a meme, a hash tag and something of an online sensation. Will all these strange fans set the Slasher off and put people in more danger or will he be flattered by the attention and draw his audience to him somehow?
Jack isn’t the most internet savvy, and needs an idiots guide to hashtags and the dark web, but thankfully his team are a bit more clued up.
There’s also a nasty strain of fentanyl laced ecstasy killing people, Jack’s pretty sure he knows where it’s coming from and who, but he can’t say too much to the other team investigating without dropping himself in it, he needs to carefully give them a lead. Because these pills must be taken off the streets before another young person dies.
It’s another busy caseload for Jack and his colleagues to handle, which is why he doesn’t have a personal life, but if they can catch the Slasher and get the dodgy pills off the street, he might just have time to feed his cat and maybe see his baby niece.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Perfect for readers who love Bridgerton with a dark twist—a vibrant historical mystery series that embraces the true diversity of the Regency era.
Confessions from beyond the grave throw Lady Worthing into turmoil . . .
London, 1807. Lady Abigail Worthing’s marriage of convenience to James Monroe, the Lord Worthing, is over. But James is out of her life quicker than Abigail anticipated when she finds his body in St. James’s Park. Shocked by her husband’s brutal murder, Abigail is determined to catch his killer.
But when she discovers that James’s transgressions ran far deeper and darker than she thought possible, Abigail questions her own judgment. Did she make a terrible mistake when solving a past crime, and does the key to James’s death lie in the letters he was writing shortly before his demise?
With her neighbor and good friend Stapleton Henderson by her side, Abigail confronts jealousy, resentment, and stunning betrayal that will shake her to her core . . .
Vanessa Riley is an acclaimed author of more than thirty novels, including Island Queen, a Good Morning America Buzz Pick, and Queen of Exiles, an ABC View Lit Pick. She is the recipient of Georgia’s 2023 Literary Fiction Author of the Year for Sister Mother Warrior and the 2024 Mystery/Detective Author of the Year for Murder in Drury Lane. Her work has been praised by the Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Publishers Weekly, and the New York Times. She hosts the essay podcast Write of Passage on Substack and can be found at VanessaRiley.com.
My thoughts: Someone question the pelicans! There’s been a murder in St James’ Park! Lord Worthing isn’t a very nice man, he’s done some pretty nasty things and his wife has spent the last week locked in her room to avoid him. But when he’s murdered, she wants to find his killer. Not trusting what passes for a police force, she and her friends investigate for themselves, but what Abigail learns will change everything she thought she knew, and not just about her husband.
Propriety says Abigail must remain at home for six months at least, in mourning, even if that isn’t how she feels, and she’s pretty certain that someone (possibly her own sister) is trying to frame her for James’ murder.
What with a distant cousin trying to claim her home, a misguided thug, her awful father and half-sister offering their “condolences” and even some of the people she trusted keeping things from her, there’s a lot to contend with. And then there’s a man seemingly returned from the dead, the question of whether James embezzled money from her father’s business, and if her father did too, and an awful lot of suspects, including most of her staff. It’s not going to be easy to figure this one out.
But she has help, from her mathematically minded cousin, a lawyer friend and her neighbours, as well as her housekeeper who keeps everyone well supplied with tea and cake.
Can Abigail solve her husband’s strange murder, sort out his past crimes and those of her unpleasant relatives? Or will her sister have the last laugh and send Lady Worthing to the gallows? Hopefully not!
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
An icy morning, a muddy riverbank. The body of a promising swimmer is found in the River Don close to Thorpe.
Returning from a six-month absence, DI Kate Fletcher leads her first murder case since she nearly lost her own life to a desperate killer.
Grappling with her own doubts and insecurities, she has to negotiate a team transformed by differences in staffing and in attitude. Everything has changed and nobody is comfortable.
A second body leads to a strong suspect, but the evidence is circumstantial and far from clear cut.
Kate’s ex-Detective Sergeant finds the breakthrough they need to help track down a cunning and meticulous murderer who has no conscience and no fear of consequences.
Heleyne Hammersley is a British writer based in Cumbria. She writes psychological suspense thrillers and crime novels.
Heleyne has been writing since junior school – her first work was a collection of poems called ‘Give Them the Works’ when she was ten years old. The poems were carefully handwritten on plain paper and tied together with knitting wool.
When she’s not writing, Heleyne can often be found wandering on the fells or cycling the back roads of Cumbria in search of coffee and cake.
My thoughts: Returning to work after being off after almost being killed, DI Kate Fletcher finds her team off kilter with staff changes and her absence. Unfortunately there isn’t time to get them settled, a young woman’s body has been found in a local river, and the team need to find the killer.
As they look into the deceased, another body is found in similar fashion – is it the same killer? Both have a tenuous link to a former athlete turned motivational spokesman and he denies all knowledge.
As the team work on the case, it’s their former DS, retired due to injury, who offers up an interesting theory that sends the team in a different direction, but is it the right one?
A clever and twisted serial killer is stalking the streets, they’ve left one victim alive, unintentionally, and as Kate and her colleagues close in, could they be putting themselves in danger?
I really enjoyed this book despite not having read the previous titles, and I liked Kate’s team, they’re a little divided but as they work together they seem to be gelling more and finding a new way to work.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
**Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome. Please enter using the Gleam link above. The winner will be selected at random via Gleam from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and usedonly for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.**
Julia Bird is as keen as anyone in Berrywick to see inside the famous Greystone Manor. But when she does, the last thing she expects to find is a body!
When Julia Bird is asked to clear out the gatehouse at Greystone Manor after the sudden death of Colonel Loxton’s sister, she is intrigued to finally see inside the impressive house. But when she discovers the body of the Colonel, who greeted her only hours before, dead behind the sofa with a bruise on his forehead, Julia believes his death is no accident.
Once forensics confirm it was murder, Julia tries to piece together what happened. On the day the Colonel died, she saw an unknown man getting into a car outside the manor. The butler Garforth and the housekeeper Biddy claim there were no visitors that day, so who was this mysterious man? Or is someone in the Colonel’s family not telling the truth, with tensions running high over the inheritance?
Days later, Julia finds another body dead among the rhododendrons and knows the deaths must be connected. At the Colonel’s funeral she heard his friends talking about a long-buried secret. Had the second victim discovered it, and is it motive enough to kill? With time running out, can Julia solve the case before there’s another murder at the manor?
An addictive and totally charming cozy mystery set in the English countryside. Perfect for fans of M.C. Beaton, Faith Martin and J. R. Ellis.
Katie Gayle is the writing partnership of best-selling South African writers, Kate Sidley and Gail Schimmel. Kate and Gail have, between them, written over ten books of various genres, but with Katie Gayle, they both make their debut in the cozy mystery genre. Both Gail and Kate live in Johannesburg, with husbands, children, dogs and cats. Unlike their sleuth Epiphany Bloom, neither of them have ever stolen a cat from the vet.
My thoughts: Julia is back and this time she’s having a nice, tomato heavy, summer, with daughter Jess in tow. She’s been asked to clear out someone’s home after they died, for the charity shop she volunteers in. Unfortunately while she’s there, the owner is murdered. Neither Bird saw or heard anything, but someone at the manor house must know.
As the police launch their investigation, the Colonel’s gardener is found with similar injuries, Julia as always, picks up some local gossip and some overheard things while popping into Greystone Manor to check on housekeeper Biddy.
All of this extra information helps Hayley and her team get to grips with the family relationships and start to figure out the important things – means, motive and opportunity.
As always there’s lots of food, dog walks, book club and other distractions but Julia can’t stop thinking about the case and Hayley needs some help this time, so it’s a good thing Julia has lots of ideas and a quick visit to a local solicitor changes everything.
I really like this series so I was delighted to read another book with the delightful Julia and her friends as she helps solve another case.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of the book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
The war may have ended, but the cover-ups never did.
Israel 1950. SIB Captain Ash Carter is called into the British ’embassy’ to report on the death-in-service of a consular officer. Despite assurances that there is nothing suspicious, Carter begins a challenging investigation – one that the authorities disprove of. And the deeper he digs, the more complex it appears.
Meeting an Israeli private detective, investigating a linked crime, Carter forms an uneasy alliance. Together, they uncover something too shocking to be believed without hard proof. With the highest of political stakes, distrust at every turn, deceit, kidnapping and murder, Carter must find a balance between the law, justice and revenge.
Dead Man’s Run is the fifth historical crime novel in the Ash Carter Near East series but can be read as a stand-alone.
Murray Bailey is the author of the Ash Carter thrillers, inspired by his father’s experience in the Royal Military Police in Singapore in the early 1950s. From the prequel series, based in Cyprus and Israel, The Prisoner of Acre won the 2025 Page Turner Award. A post-Singapore series is based in the Philippines. The Heretic Cypher is the first book of a trilogy featuring a young Robert Langdon-type character decrypting secret messages written by an ancient Egyptian.
Murray is well traveled, having worked in the US, South America and a number of European countries throughout his career as a management consultant. However he also managed to find the time to edit books, contribute to articles and act as a part-time magazine editor.
Murray was born in Manchester and now lives on the south coast of England with his family and two dogs, Teddy and Muffin.
My thoughts: Ash Carter is at a bit of a loose end in the early days of the state of Israel, Britain is about to recognise the fledgling country and establish a proper embassy, but for now a handful of people staff the consulate and Ash is called in when one of them is found dead.
What first looks like a bad heart coupled with over-work, becomes more serious when the post mortem exam reveals a blow to the head and traces of cyanide. Then the dead man’s assistant goes missing.
As Ash digs into the life and work of Morton, he meets an Israeli private detective who is also looking for the missing woman, and has bad news for him about his detective friend Rosen.
Uncovering a secret web of smugglers and forgery, Ash gets a glimpse into the darkness beneath the new state, one that has its beginnings in the terrible events of the Third Reich, and stretches across oceans.
With the blend of action and conspiracy the Ash Carter books are known for, there’s something for everyone here, even a touch of romance that Ash never really manages to hang on to. It’s a clever, tense thriller, weaving together several disparate threads into an entertaining and gripping read. What will happen to Ash now as he appears to have yet again burned too many bridges? I can’t wait to find out.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
One bitter winter’s night, Detectives Donovan and Young are called to Fountains Abbey. A crumbling ruin out on the wild and windswept Yorkshire Fells. Where the air hangs heavy with local legend, ancient secrets and now the overpowering tang of freshly spilled blood.
College teacher Patrick Armitage lies sprawled across the stones, in a gory crimson pool. His handsome face is a mask of shock and disbelief. Because Patrick’s not just been murdered. He’s been slaughtered. Stabbed over and over in the coldest blood. Patrick was a devoted family man and everyone’s favourite drama teacher. Does that make him a tragic victim — or a consummate actor, who kept his true self hidden behind a spotless façade?
The deeper Donovan and Young dig, the more they realize that no one in this baffling case is quite what they seem. Least of all Patrick’s grief-stricken widow. She begs the detectives for answers, but meets every question with hostile silence. Then a vulnerable young witness vanishes from college. And Young knows, with spine-tingling certainty, that Patrick’s killer is not done yet …
Cath Staincliffe is a best-selling, award-winning novelist, radio playwright and creator of ITV’s hit show Blue Murder. Cath has been shortlisted for the CWA Daggers five times, winning 2012’s Short Story Dagger. She won the WGBB Best Radio Drama Award in 2019. Cath’s standalone titles describe the human impact of crime on ordinary families, giving voice to victims, the bereaved, survivors and witnesses.
Cath is a reading junkie who loves hill-walking or pottering in the garden. Her new detective series features chalk and cheese duo Leo Donovan and Shan Young in the stunning setting of the Yorkshire Dales.
My thoughts: This was a much more complicated case than it first appeared. A supposedly beloved teacher murdered in a remote location, no obvious motive or suspect. But as Leo and Shan investigate it becomes clear that Patrick was not the man most people thought he was.
Then a young woman, a student of Patrick’s, is found. Did she kill herself or did someone else throw her body in the river?
Tragedy abounds as the duo solve the case, and Patrick’s young daughters will be the ones carrying the weight of it all.
Clever and compelling, this is a somewhat shocking and sad case, I really liked Leo and Shan who carry out their roles with grace and sensitivity, all while dealing with complicated personal issues.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Step into Edwardian London and meet the irresistible Althea Adler — daughter of Sherlock Holmes’s nemesis, the notorious thief and opera star Irene Adler.
A heart-racing game of wits, murder and romance is about to commence . . .
London, 1911. A mysterious postcard arrives for Althea Adler with just four words: “Holmes away from home.” Suspecting the note is an instruction from her mother to steal something valuable from the great detective, Althea breaks into his safe. She finds an old photograph of Irene — and a clue leading back to her year of birth. Could Sherlock Holmes be her real father?
Still reeling, Althea accepts an invitation to a society weekend at Twickenham Towers. But when the Earl of Tipon is found murdered in his study, she forms an unlikely, fiery partnership with a fellow guest: the dashing William, Marquess of Sheffield.
Althea is unaware that William is on a secret government mission to spy on the earl’s son. She only knows that he’s smart . . . and annoyingly handsome.
Can Althea and William outwit a cunning killer before someone else dies — or before they fall for each other?
Samantha Hastings met her husband in a turkey sandwich line. They live in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she spends most of her time reading, having tea parties, and chauffeuring her four kids. She teaches World Literature at Brigham Young University. Her young adult fiction books are Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selections and her historical romances are published around the world. She also writes murder mysteries under Samantha Larsen that Publisher’s Weekly called “wildly enjoyable.” Learn more at: http://www.SamanthaHastings.com
My thoughts: Althea Adler has a very strange relationship with her mother, the infamous Irene Adler, who is currently missing. A postcard of Paris that reads “Holmes away from home” is the only clue Althea has, which lead her to 221B Baker Street.
Then she ends up at a society weekend, and the host ends up murdered, and all the guests are told to stay put until the killer is identified. Althea decides she might just be the one to solve the case and get out of there. Along with the dashing William, Lord Sheffield.
There’s secrets a plenty in the house, all of which are about to come to the surface as Althea and William carry out their investigation and plenty of suspects. But will Althea find out the truth about who her father is and find her mother?
A clever and enjoyable read inspired by the classic crime world of Holmes and Watson.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Every family has secrets. Some are worth killing for.
Shiv has spent years trying to leave Peasedale behind. With Mason Tucker finally free from prison and her son, Pip, growing into a happy young boy, the future feels brighter than it has in a long time.
Then Hunter Piper appears.
For decades, the Piper name has been synonymous with tragedy, violence and loss. Now Hunter has come back to claim what he believes is his, bringing with him a daughter no one knew existed.
Jeanie.
As old wounds reopen and long-buried secrets begin to surface, Shiv finds herself drawn into a deadly conflict rooted in the darkest chapter of her family’s history.
When Pip vanishes, the race to find him leads back to the place where it all began—the shack in the woods.
But some truths should never be uncovered.
And some daughters inherit far more than their father’s name.
The gripping conclusion to the Peasedale Woods Killers series, The Other Daughter is a chilling psychological thriller about family loyalty, revenge, and the making of a monster.
Bob and Shirley run a lovely country pub. They also solve murders …
A warmly funny, gloriously British cozy crime and murder mystery series that can be read as standalones or part of a series. Set in a village where the pub is the heart of country life and served with warmth, wit and a very good Sunday roast.
“Murder? In our quiet, little English village? Great Oakley is a place of hanging baskets, tearooms and riverside walks. We’ve won ‘Britain’s safest village’ 10 years running. I keep three pound coins, a box of toffees and a bottle of Pepto-Bismol on my dashboard at all times, and I’ve never needed to lock my car. Certainly, Bevvy Hogg was disliked. She ran the local Waist Watchers group, yet came to our pub for fish and chips, treacle tart and a bottle of Chardonnay every Friday. But I don’t think she was murdered …”
When Bevvy Hogg is found dead in the Goose and Gander pub garden, with an empty treacle tart plate beside her and several dress sizes slimmer than anyone remembers, Great Oakley’s winning streak as Britain’s safest village comes to an abrupt end.
Suzy K Quinn (hello – it’s me!) is writing this bio in the third person. Which feels duplicitous and also a little egotistical. But here goes …
Suzy K Quinn writes book club books and murder mystery series, and has sold over 1 million copies worldwide. She’s a bestselling author in the US, UK and Germany and will soon, very possibly, have written more books than she’s read.
Suzy lives in Wivenhoe, Essex, with her husband and two daughters. She is a twin, an incompetent parent of two and now fully decaffeinated. Her twin sister, Cate Quinn, is also a bestseller author. When Suzy isn’t writing in cafes, she is walking around woods dictating like a lunatic.
Suzy loves her readers and is ALWAYS happy to chat on facebook You can also get a free book at her website
FacebookAuthor Group Tiktok @suzykquinn Instagram @suzykquinn Twitter @suzykquinn Threads @suzykquinn
My thoughts: This is very funny, Bob and Shirley alternate in telling you their theories, suspicions and personal vendettas (mostly Shirley).
Pub regular Bevvy Hogg is found by Bob one morning as he goes to check on his tomatoes, dead on the patio he lovingly power washes every week. There’s a suspicious yellow stain next to her and she’s removed her ever present cardigan.
Bevvy was in the pub the night before, downing jugs of water and acting a bit strange. Was she poisoned by John Boy’s cooking? Bob and Shirley are sure their nephew is innocent and are determined to prove it so he can enter the village bake off, but who killed Bevvy Hogg and why?
It’s a convoluted tale of bitter people and long held grudges (many of them Shirley’s) with cake, fish and chips, a Sunday roast and a brand new uncorruptible police constable working on solving the case with some help from Bob’s spreadsheets, a fox called Cyril and Shirley’s unique way with words.
One of Great Oakley’s five open gardens served poisoned tea. Can you work out which one before Bob does?
‘Like Murdle and a cozy mystery rolled into one.’
Murder mystery logic puzzle stories for fans of The Killer Isn’t Alice, Murdle and Can You Solve the Murder?
These are ‘Puzzlories’. Read them like stories, solve them like puzzles. Each one takes about an hour to read and solve.
It’s Open Gardens weekend in Great Oakley. Five gardeners have opened their gardens to the public, and each is offering a unique drink, cake, flower and interesting garden feature to their fellow villagers.
Unfortunately, one garden owner poured poisoned tea. Probably not on purpose. But you never know. There are more murders in Britain’s safest village than you might imagine.
Village pub landlady Shirley Duffy visited all five open gardens before returning to the Goose and Gander for a much-needed beer and a sit down. One of those five gardens was the scene of the crime. The trouble is, Shirley’s memory is known to be … selective. She can remember every cake she’s eaten since 1987, but not necessarily when and where she ate it. And she can’t remember which garden served tea on Saturday afternoon.
Shirley’s husband, Bob, is frustrated that Shirley can’t remember one garden from another. But he finds many things about his wife frustrating, and loves her anyway. As Bob presses Shirley for details, the clues pile up. Your job is to note them down and work out who served the tea before Bob does.
Twenty clues, one in every short chapter. Fill in your detective’s grid, cross off your suspects and name the poisoner.Grab your notebook, put the kettle on (carefully) and see if you can beat Bob to the answer.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
**Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome. Please enter using the Gleam box below. The winner will be selected at random via Gleam from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.**
